Job description

A PhD Research Fellowship in Natural Language Processing is available at the Department of Informatics.

The fellowship period is 3 years. Candidates may be offered one additional year by the Department of Informatics; the 4 years position then entails a compulsory work load of 25% that consists of teaching and supervision duties.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.Starting date no later than 01.10.2019.

More about the position

This doctoral fellowship will explore neural techniques for joint morpho-syntactic analysis and semantic parsing. All things semantic are receiving heightened attention in recent years. While syntactic parsing has been dominated by tree-shaped representations for decades, there is growing interest in general graphs as a richer target representation for grammatical analysis beyond surface syntax. This project calls for basic research (with implementation and experimental evaluation) on neural parsing architectures and algorithms that support the types of bilexical graphs in the Enhanced Universal Dependencies (EUD) and Semantic Dependency Parsing (SDP) initiatives. For general background on these frameworks, please see:

https://universaldependencies.org/u/overview/enhanced-syntax.html

http://sdp.delph-in.net

The fellowship is based at the Language Technology Group (LTG), a research group with a current staff of around 15, where syntactico-semantic parsing is among the core research areas. The fellowship will be supervised in collaboration with the Computational Linguistics group at Uppsala University (Sweden), with co-supervisors Stephan Oepen and Lilja Øvrelid at LTG and Joakim Nivre in Uppsala. It is expected that the fellow will spend three to six months visiting Uppsala University to work with Nivre and colleagues on site. At least some prior knowledge of syntactic or semantic analysis and neural network techniques is a prerequisite for this fellowship.

Qualification requirements

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, or Computer Science with a suitable specialization
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
• Existing knowledge and experience in Natural Language Processing is necessary.
• Candidates without a Master’s degree have until 30 June, 2019 to complete the final exam

Grade requirements:

The norm is as follows:

• the average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
• the average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• the Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English

http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/application/application.html

We offer

• salary NOK 449 900 – 505 800 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow, (position code 1017)
• attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include

• cover letter statement of motivation and research interests
• cv (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
• copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records and letters of recommendation
• documentation of English proficiency for International applicants
• list of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “Apply for this job”. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language).

Short-listed applicants will be called in for an interview.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

The fellowship requires admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The application to the PhD programme must be submitted to the department no later than two months after taking up the position. For more information see:

http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/

According to the Norwegian Freedom and Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.

The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.

Contact information

• Professor Stephan Oepen, oe@ifi.uio.no, (+47) 4546 6632

For technical questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Torunn Standal Guttormsen, +47 22 85 42 72, t.s.guttormsen@mn.uio.no

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